Merced County
Biographies
JOSEPH CARDOZA
The Azores Islands have sent many of their inhabitants to America, and they have usually done so well and have sent back such glowing reports of their success that it was natural that as Joseph Cardoza was drawing towards manhood he should be fired with the ambition to seek that El Dorado where so many of his countrymen had gone. He was born December 27, 1888, in Terceira. His mother, Jane Lawrence Cardoza, had died at the age of twenty-five. His father, Antone, is still living at the age of sixty-eight. There were only his brother Manuel and sister Mary, so the ties to keep him at home were not strong and the year 1907 found him in Boston, Mass., and not long thereafter near Sacramento, Cal., where he found employment on a dairy farm at Freeport, on the Sacramento River. A year later he was in Los Banos, still working in the dairy business. Then he went into the business for himself, leased land and carried on five strings of cows. After eight years in company with his brother he was able to buy a ranch of 225 acres from M. M. Wood in 1918, and here he had 130 cows. Then he and his brother and a third partner, F. S. Pacheo, bought a second ranch of 140 acres near Los Banos, and ran a dairy on this place. He and his brother now own 295 acres. In the spring of 1922 he and his brother started into the dairy business again and they now have about seventy-five cows on the 225-acre ranch bought of Mr. Wood.
On June 6, 1922, Mr. Cardoza was married at San Francisco to Mary Augustine, born in Bedford, Mass., and daughter of Joseph and Margaret Augustino, natives of Flores of the Azores.
Mr. Cardoza is a director of the Los Banos branch of the Mercantile Trust Company of California and stock inspector for it. He is not identified with any political party, but votes for the man he thinks is best fitted for the office. Fraternally, he is a member of the U. P. E. C. and an ex-vice-president of the I. D. E. S. and belongs to the Eagles. He is a member of the Catholic Church.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 835-836
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
ANTONE FURTADO
An example of the rewards in store for young men of ability and industry who are fortunate enough to have been born in Merced County, the descendants of worthy parents who came here and took advantage of the opportunities at hand, may be found in Antone Furtado, born October 4, 1900, at El Nido, Merced County, the seventh of eight children born to the late John F. and Margaret (Silva) Furtado, both natives of the Azores Islands, and now deceased. He was reared on the home ranch, attending the Russell district school, and during his spare time, when not busy at his books and school tasks, he took an active part in the ranch work, and when old enough, took part in grain raising on an extensive scale with his older brothers and his parents, in the El Nido district.
Tony Furtado, as he is familiarly known, has shown his business acumen by careful handling of business long before he reached his majority, and since then he has made some splendid investments and has become one of the richest of Merced County's young men. His home ranch, in Franklin District, where he located in 1920, consists of twenty acres devoted to alfalfa and dairy, and he owns a part of the estate of his father, the late J. F. Furtado.
The marriage of Mr. Furtado, which occurred in Merced, Sept. 6, 1920, united him with Bessie A. King, born in Le Grand, on June 8, 1902, the daughter of Joseph and Marie King, venerable pioneers of Merced County, born in the Azores, and now deceased. Two children have come to bless their marriage: Carmel M., born on April 29, 1922, and A. Merlin, born on January 24, 1925. After the death of Mrs. King, in 1915, Mrs. Furtado inherited the home property on 21st Street. The father died August 5, 1912. Mr. Furtado belong to the I. D. E. S. society, and the Knights of Columbus, and he is very sincerely interested in the advancement and further development of the resources of his home county. He knows its possibilities, and has faith in the prosperous future in store for this section.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 836-837
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
J. J. GONZALES
A building contractor of Atwater who has always had his share of the building business of that fast-growing settlement is J. J. Gonzales, a native son, born in Bear Valley, Mariposa County, on May 1, 1873, the oldest child of Manuel and Mary (Silva) Gonzales. Manuel Gonzales was born on the Island of Pico in the Azores, and in the early sixties landed in San Francisco and soon afterwards located in Mariposa County. At the age of thirty he married Mary Silva, who is still living at the age of seventy-four years and resides at Atwater. Manuel died there in 1923.
J. J. Gonzales
attended the public schools of Mariposa County and as he grew up he followed
mining in the creek channels in that county. The results were far from
satisfactory to the ambitious lad and he started in to learn the carpenter's
trade and learned it from the bottom up. He came to Atwater in 1906 and for some
time his attention was divided between ranching and carpentering as he secured
jobs here and there. In 1913 he gave up ranching to devote his time to
contracting and building and has since been thus engaged, doing his share of the
home building in Atwater and the surrounding country.
Mr. Gonzales was married in 1905 to
Anne DeNeves, born in Bear Valley, Mariposa County, the daughter of the late
Mathew DeNeves, who died in April, 1925 at the age of seventy-seven. His widow,
Mary DeNeves, is still living. Of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Gonzales four
children have been born: William, Elmer, Franklin and Thelma, all born in Merced
County.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 837
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler
WILLIAM C. COTTON, M. D.
Born in San Antonio, Texas, on December 4, 1882, W. C. Cotton was the fourth in a family of eight children born to Charles F. and Mary F. (Edgar) Cotton. Charles F. Cotton was born at Fort Smith, Texas, in 1849, became a journalist and publisher and after forty years of active life retired to San Antonio. Mrs. Cotton was born in San Antonio. Her father was a member of General Miles' Scout troops, and a captain in the regulars in the Mexican War with General Taylor. He served for fifteen years as Vice Consul of Mexico City. He lived to be eighty-two years of age. The grandparents on both sides of the family helped make history in the early days when Texas was a territory.
William C. Cotton was educated in the public schools in San Antonio, graduating from the high school. He began life's work as a copy boy in the office of the Daily Express of San Antonio, receiving three dollars per week as a wage. Becoming dissatisfied with the outlook he went to Chicago in 1900 and entered the employ of W. R. Hearst, left copy work to take up the mechanical end of the newspaper and rose to be color man at sixty-five dollars per week and was thus engaged for four years, continuing newspaper work until 1911. He had entered Valparaiso University in Chicago in 1907, and upon receiving his M. D. degree in 1911, became an intern in Bellevue Hospital and two years later went to Bloomington, Ill., and became associated in office work with Dr. Benson.
In 1917 Dr. Cotton enlisted for service in the World War, was First Lieutenant of Benjamin Harrison Medical Casuals A. E. F. three months later, serving until 1919. He was Chief of Staff at Winchester, England, in charge of 200 men and thirty-five nurses and seventeen doctors. He received his honorable discharge at Camp Riley, Kans., in March, 1919. After the war he came to Atwater, Cal. and engaged in the practice of his profession and since then has built up a lucrative practice and has made a large circle of friends.
In Chicago, in 1902, Dr. Cotton was united in marriage with Marie Steele, daughter of the late Carl S. Steele and Marie O. Steele, now a resident of Los Angeles. Mrs. Cotton was born in Ohio. They have two children: Opal, an advanced student and Russian Ballet dancer in Los Angeles; and William Edgar, attending the public schools in Merced County. Dr. Cotton is a Republican in politics. Fraternally he is a member of Yosemite Lodge No. 99, F. & A. M. and the Sciots, both in Merced; Merced Lodge No. 1240, B. P. O. E. and a charter member of the Atwater Camp, Woodmen of the World; and he is a member of the Atwater Booster Club. He is a member of the Atwater Fruit Exchange and the California Peach and Fig Association. He owns 100 acres of highly developed orchard and vineyard in Merced County, and is a one-fifth owner in Mercy Hospital in Merced. He was president of the Merced County Medical Society in 1923, and health officer of the county in 1922, 1923 and 1924.
While in Chicago Dr. Cotton was one of the founders of the Federated Newspaper Trades of that city and served as secretary in 1911-1912. He was prominent in politics while in Chicago and opened the Victor Berger campaign at Milwaukee, Wis. He is a personal friend of Eugene Debs and was formerly an active member of the Socialist party. He is a profound thinker, brilliant debater and ready writer and scholar. He has been the champion of the under dog, so to speak, wherever he finds he can do some good. Take it all in all he has been and is a very useful member of society.
History of Merced County, California – Los Angeles, Historic Record Co., 1925
page 838-839
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler